Rhubarb Bread Pudding

When I was researching Darina Allen for the game-changer series, I ran across this recipe. My mother's recipe for bread pudding is our all time favorite (my kids won't let me make any other kind), but how could I resist trying a rhubarb bread pudding? It was excellent, but more of a souffle bread pudding than the dense bread puddings I am accustomed to. Here's a big plus:  this is one of those dishes that is even better if it sits overnight in the fridge before baking; so you can prepare it a day in advance and bake it the next day.


Rhubarb Bread and Butter Pudding
Via Epicurious, March 2007 by Darina Allen, From A Year at Ballymaloe Cookery School 

Ingredients:
1 pound red rhubarb
Sugar
4 tablespoons butter, preferably unsalted
12 slices good-quality white bread, crusts removed
2 cups cream
1 cup milk
4 extra large free-range eggs, beaten lightly
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon extra sugar, for sprinkling on top of pudding
Garnish: whipped cream


Method:
Cut the rhubarb into 1-inch pieces. Put into a dish and sprinkle with sugar. Let macerate for an hour. 
Butter the bread. Arrange four slices, buttered-side down, in one layer in the buttered baking dish. Scatter half the rhubarb over the bread, and cover with another layer of bread, buttered-side down. Scatter the remaining rhubarb on top and cover with the remaining bread, buttered-side down. 
Whisk together the cream, milk, eggs, vanilla, and sugar in a bowl. Pour the mixture through a fine strainer over the bread. Sprinkle the extra spoonful of sugar over the top. Let the mixture stand, covered loosely, for at least 1 hour or refrigerate overnight. 
Preheat the oven to 350°F. 
Bake in a water bath — the water should be boiling and come halfway up the sides of the baking dish — in the middle of the preheated oven, for about 1 hour or until the top is crisp and golden. Server the pudding warm, with some cream or softly whipped cream. 

A Simple Summer Salad

This has become a favorite lunch of mine. With the fresh asparagus, lemon zest and salty tang of Parmesan, it's the perfect combination. Aren't the colors wonderful? I cook the asparagus stove top in a little olive oil, which makes its own vinaigrette when you add the lemon juice. You also could roast them in the oven or if you have a grill, you could do the asparagus outside and serve this as a first course for supper.

Warm Asparagus Salad
Found in Very Fond of Food by Sophie Dahl

Ingredients:
12 asparagus spears
2 eggs
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Juice and zest of 1/2 lemon
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Method:
Boil the eggs about 4 or 5 minutes, not completely hard boiled. Plunge into cold water and peel.
Cut the tough ends off the asparagus and heat the grill or a pan on the stove to high heat. Add a tablespoon of olive oil and grill the asparagus until brown and done, about 5 minutes.
Arrange on a plate, sprinkle with the Parmesan, zest, salt and pepper. Arrange the eggs on top and sprinkle with the lemon juice and remaining olive oil.
Serves 2.

The Picnic Game: Baked Beans

Did you ever play the picnic game as a child? Well, Louise at Months of Edible Celebrations is hosting a virtual Picnic. In order to participate in the Picnic Game, each blogger chooses a letter and brings a dish that begins with that letter.  Join in the fun!

I'm going on a picnic and I'm bringing.....

A: Artichokes Steamed and Dressed with Mayonnaise from Mae at Mae's Food Blog

And my letter is B: Baked Beans
 
Be sure to visit Louise next weekend for all the other letters and their matching dishes!

Ah yes...I remember when I used to spend two days making perfect baked beans. And every once in a while I still make them from scratch. But my mother, because we did a lot of picnicking on the boat, knew tons of shortcuts for picnic foods. These baked beans are a perfect example. The ingredients were never written down, but I've been making it forever so did some guesswork for this post. Just eyeball it and if you need or want more of anything, add it. Obviously, we love bacon. We never cared for soupy baked beans either; you'll find these just right: they won't leak sauce into all the other items on your plate. 

Mother's Speedy Baked Beans

Ingredients:

2   28 ounce cans Baked Beans
(I used original pork and beans; nothing fancy)

1/2  pound  bacon, diced, raw, diced

1 tablespoon dry mustard

1/2 cup ketchup

1/4 cup light brown sugar

Method:
Drain both cans of beans slightly; just the juices on top is enough. (The brand I used to use is not available at my market anymore. I didn't have to drain those.) Pour 1 can of beans into a casserole. Sprinkle with about 1 tablespoon dry mustard, then about 1/4 cup light brown sugar. Pour in the other can of beans and cover with 1/2 cup ketchup and the raw diced bacon. Bake, uncovered, in a 375 oven for an hour or until bacon is crisp and the beans bubbly.